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I have a newbie question around Keyboard firmware: I built a simple Macro-Pad based on the RP2040. I want to use it under macOS for application-specific functionality. However, I cannot find a firmware that allows me to change/define Macros during runtime. I find it very cumbersome to always compile and flash a new firmware, whenever I want to change a simple Macro.

What am I missing?

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You might want to look into Vial[0]. It's essentially an addition to QMK which allows you to do exactly that.

[0]: https://get.vial.today/

You might want to try via (https://www.caniusevia.com) instead, actually. I know at least Bastard Keyboards switched from vial to via because vial-qmk (the vial fork of qmk_firmware) was lagging 9+ months behind upstream qmk at one point.

One feature that made me prefer vial for custom macropads is being able to embed the keyboard definitions that via/vial needs within the firmware. A lot more setup and forget rather than having to deal with additional files to be able to change my keymap. Especially when I'm gifting these to friends.

Thanks! That looks really good!

Configure the macropad to send uncommon key combinations and use something like Keyboard Maestro to do the rest.

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